During the
1620s Sweden was at war with Poland. In 1625 the Swedish king Gustavus
Adolphus ordered new warships. Among them the Vasa.
The Vasa was to be the mightiest warship in the world, armed with 64 guns
on two gundecks.
In 1628 the ship was ready. Sunday August 10 was the day of the Vasa's
maiden voyage. The maiden voyage was to be an act of propaganda for the
ambitious Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus.
The Vasa set sail and fired a salute. But only after a few minutes of
sailing the ship began to heel over. She righted herself slightly - and
heeled over again. Water started to gush in through the open
gunports. And, the glorious and mighty warship suddenly sank! Of the 150
people on board, 30-50 died in the disaster. When Vasa had been salvaged
in 1961, archaeologists found the remains of 25 skeletons.
Deep down in the Vasa several tons of stone were stored as ballast. They
were meant to give the ship stability. However, the main reason for the
Vasa capsizing was that the ballast was not enough as counterweight to
the guns, the upper hull, masts and sails of the ship.
The Vasa was located 30 metres beneath the surface. The Swedish Navy's
heavy divers, under the leadership of head diver Per Edvin Fälting,
dived down to the ship. They managed to flush six tunnels in the mud beneath
her. Steel cables were drawn through the tunnels. Two lifting pontoons
on the surface were to lift the ship using the cables. In August 1959
the time came for the
first lift.
At 9.03 on April 24 1961 the proud royal warship Vasa broke surface after
333 years on the sea bottom. During that summer the ship was excavated
by archaeologists. An
untouched part of the 17th century had warped into the 20th century!
In 1962 the temporary Vasa Museum - the Wasavarvet - opened. The ship
and all the finds were preserved. The Vasa is the biggest single object
that has ever been
preserved. A chemical substance called polyethylenglycol (PEG) was
used. It replaces water in wooden objects to prevent them from shrinking
when dried.
In 1990 the new Vasa Museum was inaugurated.